Introduction
In his article ‘Creativity and Motivation - Traits From Within’, Cameron Switzer, states that “The "entrepreneur" is one who creates a new business in the hopes of making a profit. If this is a valid definition of the term, then it is essential that businesses today utilize "entrepreneurial skills" in order to compete against rival corporations and small businesses that have become an even greater threat than before.”[1] If organizations are to remain successful they must ‘think like entrepreneurs’. But what are the key criteria that organizations should use in searching for creativity and intrinsic motivation in employees?
What makes an Entrepreneur?
Companies that want more intrinsically motivated individuals working for them, first need to understand what an entrepreneur looks like. According to Professor Garrity there are eight ‘Characteristics of Entrepreneurs’, these include: 1) Desire for responsibility· 2) Preference for moderate risk· 3) Confidence in own ability to succeed· 4) Desire for immediate feedback· 5) High levels of energy· 6) Future orientation· 7) Skill at organization· 8) Ability to see value in achievement over money.[2] If companies want employees to possess these kinds of traits, then development of a work environment that fosters such traits is essential. How is it possible? Mr. Switzer believes that an examination of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs may provide the answer.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s hierarchy has 5 levels. Humans start with a very “weak disposition that is then fashioned fully as the person grows. If the environment is right, people will grow straight and beautiful, actualizing the potentials they have inherited. If the environment is not "right" (and mostly it is not) they will not grow tall and straight and beautiful.”[3] At the highest level of the hierarchy is self-awareness. Once employees have their basic “needs, and other intrinsic needs met, they are able to begin to think beyond what they "want" and focus on other aspects. This is where creativity comes into play. We all know that extrinsic motivation rarely lasts forever… Look, however to those people that are motivated from inside themselves; they are the creators, the individuals that can come up with the most amazing things.”[4]
Building rather than Seeking
Companies need to create environments that empower employees to higher levels so that they feel they are important in the organization. When they have “self-worth, and confidence, when they are rewarded for their efforts, then the creativity will flow from the intrinsic motivation.”[5] According to Eisenberger – a professor of psychology - and Shanock in their article 'Rewards, Intrinsic Motivation, and Creativity: A Case Study of Conceptual and Methodological Isolation', offered this advice on providing the correct environment to foster entrepreneurship, "when individuals believe they can obtain rewards by being creative, they become more creative. The expectation that creativity will be rewarded causes individuals to define the task as requiring creativity, to become immersed in it, and to search for novel ways of carrying it out."[6]
Conclusion
Perhaps ‘seeking’ the correct employee that suits all the characters of the perfect entrepreneur is not what many companies need. Perhaps it is a greater devotion from the company that personal growth will be fostered and grown. “By providing the tools required to get the job done, education to enhance thought processes, empowering workers to produce excellence and rewarding them for doing so, employers will not only develop their own employees abilities to create, they will improve their competitive advantage in the market by increasing the invaluable asset known as knowledge.”[7]
[1] http://ezinearticles.com/?Creativity-and-Motivation---Traits-From-Within&id=417769[2] http://online.anaheim.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=13802[3] http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm[4] http://ezinearticles.com/?Creativity-and-Motivation---Traits-From-Within&id=417769[5] http://ezinearticles.com/?Creativity-and-Motivation---Traits-From-Within&id=417769[6] Eisenberger, R., & Shanock, L. 'Rewards, Intrinsic Motivation, and Creativity: A Case Study of Conceptual and Methodological Isolation.' Creativity Research Journal, 15, 121-130, 2003.[7] http://ezinearticles.com/?Creativity-and-Motivation---Traits-From-Within&id=417769, Feynman, R. P. 'The pleasure of finding things out: The best short works of Richard P. Feynman.' Cambridge, MA: Perseus 1999.
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